Crockpot Tuesday–Ladle-It-On Lasagna with Turkey

When I first found out I had to start a low-carb diet for the duration of my pregnancy, I was sure I was going to have to change to all new food and recipes, and definitely increase my food budget.

However, it hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be, in fact it’s been sort of fun trying out new healthier recipes.   However, today’s recipe is one that I have made many times in the past, and is based on a recipe from The Woman’s Day Cookbook.  I just changed it up slightly.  In the past it has been a meatless meal, but this time I added Ground Turkey to put more protein in the meal.

Another change in the recipe is I used the crockpot for it.  Normally it’s just a stove top recipe, but since with my new diet I try to eat on a schedule I used the Crockpot to make sure it was ready when I needed to eat and then for everyone else when they got home. You definitely could do this meal without using the crockpot.  If you do cook it on the stove-top, the meal can be ready in less then 30 minutes.

So with all that being said, today’s Crockpot Tuesday recipe is Ladle-It-On Lasagna with Turkey.  It’s perfect for low carb meals because the pasta is not baked right in with everything else.

So here’s what you need for the meal.  

• 1 lb Ground Turkey
• 1 diced Green Pepper
• 1/2 Small Onion diced
• 1 can Crushed Tomatoes in Thick Puree (I used Muir Glen because there isn’t any sugar added)
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 lb pasta (I just used elbow noodles) – cooked and warm.  (To keep it warm, you can make a holder out of aluminum foil and place it on the top of your crockpot – like a tray)
• Ricotta Cheese (amount depends on your taste)
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (amount depends on your taste)

Not all ingredients are in the picture above.  What is I bought at Aldis for a great price and I also bought all the spices there for 99 cents/jar each.

(picture taken after serving 4 people)

As I mentioned above, this is normally a skillet meal, so I did start this Crockpot meal in a skillet, which is something I normally don’t do. 

1. In large skillet, brown the turkey with the green pepper and onion.
2. Place the meat mixture in the crockpot and add the tomatoes, garlic, basic and oregano.  Stir it all together and Turn on low for an hour (or whatever time you require.)
3. To assemble, place the desired amount of pasta on your plate.  Cover that with desired amount of Ricotta cheese.  I used 1 TBSP on each serving.  Then pour over 1 cup of the turkey tomato sauce and spinkle with Mozzarella cheese. 
4. Serve right away after plating.

That is what I did for my family.  For my low-carb version, I replaced the majority of the pasta with Romaine Lettuce and only about 15 noodles and then did the rest.

This was definitely another budget friendly low-carb meal.  This meal that fed 6 cost only $5.75, plus I have one serving that I’m going to eat for lunch one day this week.

Here’s the breakdown of the costs:

Ground Turkey – $1.49 from Aldis.  Found in the freezer section(much cheaper then ground round at the grocery store.  This isn’t the lowest fat ground turkey at 85/15, but still much less then Ground Round)
Green Pepper – $.70 – pack of 2 cost $1.39 at Aldis
Muir Glen Tomatoes – 30 cents purchased at Giant Eagle
Onion – 5 cents
Spices – 10 cents
Ricotta Cheese – $1.27 (container cost $1.69 at Aldis and I used 3/4)
Mozarella Cheese – $1 (bought at Shop N Save when they were $1 and used 3/4)
Pasta – 84 cents (used half of the box from Aldis that cost $1.69)